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[PREVIOUSLY: Octavia's life is once-again threatened by an angry and chagrined Heda. When the troops go to Polis to determine the fate of her people, Octavia begins to bond with Artigas. Then, Lexa comes rushing back into TonDC with bad news: Trikru has declared war against Skikru]!
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
The wind rushed past my ears.
"Every single representative from each of the twelve clans ... voted in favour of attack."
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
Twigs snapped across my arms and face.
"You have to leave TonDC at once before the others return!"
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
Salty tears stung my eyes.
"You must go ... now."
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
My fingers tightened around the leather reins I held in my hands.
"This is war."
I dug my heels deeper into Zenia's side, urging him to go faster. His hooves pounded against the ground, kicking up clumps of grass and clods of dirt in his wake. His strong muscles rippled across his broad back and his breaths came out in fast, hard pants.
He sensed the urgency in my tone and pushed on, his strides lengthening with each step.
"Come on, Zenia, come on, you can do it!" I whispered words of encouragement in his ear. "We need to get back to the drop-ship before the grounders do!"
In a matter of moments, Zenia had brought me into the woods encompassing our camp. With one swift movement, I jumped from the saddle, drawing my sword out in the process. My eyes warily scanned my surroundings as I clasped Zenia's reins in one hand. The fingers of my other hand curled tightly around the handle of my jagged-edge sword as I prepared for any confrontation.
Stepping aside into the safety of a thick clump of large spruce bushes, I wrapped Zenia's reins around one of the sturdy branches.
"Thank you, boy," I breathed in Zenia's ear as I smoothed my palm across his silky neck.
Keeping low to the ground, I slipped out from amidst the shadows of the trees and made a bee-line straight for the camp gates.
As I approached them, I heard much commotion occurring from within the walls. Furrowing my brow in confusion, I walked straight up to the gates and pounded on them.
"Oi!" I shouted. "Let me in! Hurry up!"
There was a slight lull in the mixture of raised voices inside as my cry carried throughout the air.
A dark blonde head poked up over the top of the wall. "Octavia!" Dustin's relieved voice rang out. "Guys! It's Octavia! She's back!"
CREAK.
The gates swung open. I strode briskly inside.
Then, I paused.
Everyone, girls and boys, old and young, weak and strong, were gathered around the base of the drop-ship facing Bellamy, Clarke, Raven and Finn, who were all talking to them. Some of the listeners were armed with rifles, some with machetes, others with knives. Some had packs strapped to their shoulders. Some had coils of rope and first aid kits bundled up in their belts.
What on earth was going on?
When Dustin's announcement cut through the commotion, they all turned around and stared at me. The looks on their faces were priceless.
"Octavia!" Bellamy exclaimed as he leaped to the ground and rushed towards me. "Where the hell have you been? I was so worried. We were about to go out and look for you - again!"
"Perfect timing then, huh?" I rolled my eyes at him as I turned towards the others standing nearby. "Okay, listen up! For the past few days I've been with the grounders ... in TonDC ..."
"Wait, what?" Clarke gasped as she, too, followed Bellamy's example and began walking towards me.
"You were with the grounders?" Raven shouted out. "How come you're not dead?"
I shook my head and sighed. "To be honest, I wish I was. What's coming next is - is something that will take the lives of many of our people. I'm not sure what we can do to stop them. Heck, I'm not even sure that we can. All I know is this: if we don't leave this camp now, we're all goners."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Bellamy demanded as he crinkled up his forehead in confusion.
"The grounders are coming," I returned solemnly. "They've just declared war on us."
Murmurs of fear and shock spread throughout the crowd.
"Crap. What do we do?" Raven questioned loudly.
I shrugged. "I - I dunno ..."
"Hold up!" a ginger haired boy shoved his way forward and pointed a crooked finger at me. "Why did the grounders not torture you, cut you up into little pieces and throw your decimated body into the river as an example of what is going to happen to the rest of us?"
I narrowed my eyes at him as I snapped, "I'm smart, that's why."
"No, not smart," the boy shook his head vigourously. "Y-you're a traitor! In return for your life, you told them everything about us, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?"
With a furious scream, he rushed forward, hands stretched out in front of him, eyes crazed with anger.
Suddenly, Bellamy was upon him. He sent a knuckle-punch straight into the boy's throat, knocking him flat onto the floor. He pounced upon him and flipped him over onto his stomach. After delivering another punch into the boy's side, he then seized his arms and bent them backwards as he dug a knee into the back of his neck.
Bellamy lifted his head and glared angrily at the onlookers. "Anyone touches my sister and they answer to me!" he growled. "Nate, Bryce, take this dirty vagabond away and lock him up! He wants Octavia to be an example to the rest of us? Well, he can kindly take her place!"
As Nate and Bryce stepped forward to secure the writhing, cursing youth, Bellamy roughly let him go and got to his feet before turning back to me.
I cracked a half-smile. "You didn't have to do that, Bell."
"Whoever threatens you, threatens me," Bellamy returned as he leaned forward to place a hand on my shoulder. "Now, O, sit down and tell us everything."
Finn went to get me some water and Clarke some bandages and antiseptic to wash out the cuts that had torn the skin on my arms and face. With Bellamy comfortingly rubbing my back, I was able to relay to them what had happened: Aidan's return, the confrontation with Anya, the assassination plot, my talk with Lexa and worst of all, the outcome of the vote in Polis.
As I wound up my eventful story, I noticed that Clarke's face had drained of all colour.
"Bellamy, we have to do something!" she burst out once I had finished. "If we don't, there'll be a massacre and you know it!"
Bellamy shook his head as he passed his hand over his eyes. "I - I know."
I glanced from Clarke to Bellamy in confusion. "W-what's going on?"
"I finished going through the rest of our gunpowder," Raven replied gravely. "Turns out, we only have enough left to fill one miserly glass jar. The rest of it was acidic and completely unusable."
I groaned and buried my face in my hands. "What? Oh c'mon!"
Bellamy heaved a deep sigh as he spoke up, "Well, what's the plan? We always have one ... right?"
"With thousands of grounder warriors marching upon us as we speak and hardly any defences left to protect ourselves with ... well, I just don't see much of a plan in that!" Finn huffed. "Octavia's right. The only choice we have is to leave. If we don't, we'll die."
"We'll die anyway!" Bellamy retorted. "Once we leave these walls, the grounders will be able to track us down easily. If we stay here, at least we have some protection."
"What protection?" Clarke exclaimed. "These flimsy things you call 'walls'? That's not going to keep the grounders out!"
"You don't know that!" Bellamy snapped. "We can use them to our advantage!"
"And what is our advantage exactly?"
"Whoa, hang on!" Raven's authoritative tone cut through the air. "We're not gonna go anywhere with arguing so let's just chill, alright? Where did you say they were coming from, Octavia?"
I shrugged, throwing my hands up into the air. "They could be coming from anywhere ... seriously ... But from the direction of TonDC? Uhh ... that's way on the other side of the river. To get across it safely, they'll have to go over the bridge."
Raven's eyes sparked with interest. "The bridge, huh? Well, that's handy. Very handy indeed."
Finn raised his eyebrows as he looked quizzically over at her. "And why is that?"
Raven cast a sideways glance at him. "I say we blow it. With the available gunpowder that we have left, it should make a reasonable size bomb."
"You do know that's a one hundred year old bridge that's survived world wars and nuclear bombings that wiped out the rest of the world, right?" Bellamy shot out sardonically as he gazed pointedly at Raven.
Raven smirked. "It won't survive me. I can make it go boom."
Gif: Octavia on Zenia. BTW, does anyone else, besides me, think that Raven is a total badass or what?
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